THECATKIND. 6$ 



dable ; its mufcks very ftrong, as being formed for rapine ; the tail of a 

 moderate length, very thick and flat, marked with alternate bars of 

 black and white, the end always black; the hips, and hind part of the 

 lower joints of the leg, always black ; the fur very foft and fine : the 

 general colour of thefe animals, in England, is a ycllowiHi white, mixed 

 with a deep grey. Thefe colours, though apparently blended, yet are 

 difpofed like the (Ireaks of the tiger, pointing from the back downwards, 

 rifingfrom a black lift that runs from the head along the middle of the 

 back to the tail. This animal is the moll deftruftive of the carnivorous 

 kinds in this kingdom ; inhabits mountainous and woody parts, living 

 moftly in trees, and feeding by night. Ttfhould feem that thefe are not 

 original inhabitants of this kingdom, but from a domcftic ftate, became 

 wild by ill ufage or negle<5l. By the laws of Howel, the Wekh prince, 

 the price of a kitten, before it could fee, was a penny j then two-pence; 

 when it commenced moufer, four-pence : it was required, befides, that 

 it fhould be of perfefb hearing and fight, be a good moufer, have the 

 claws whole, and be a good nurfe. If it failed in any of thefe qualities, 

 the feller was toforfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. If any 

 one ftole or killed the cat that guarded the prince's granary, he was to 

 forfeit a milch ewe, its fleece and lamb, or as much wheat as, when 

 poured on the cat fufpended by the tail (the head touching the floor) 

 would form an heap high enough to cover the tip of the tail. 



In our clim.ate we know but of one kind of wild cat : there are but 

 few differences in this quadruped. Of all quadrupeds the wild cat has 

 inteftines fmalleft and (horteiu Thofe of the fheep, for inftance, un- 

 ravelled and meafured, will extend thirty times the length of its body ; 

 whereas the wild cat's inteftines will not be found above three times the 

 length of its body, and are, by one third, fliorter than thofe of the tame. 

 If we fay the domeftic cat has inteftines enlarged to the quantity of its 

 food, this obfervation is contradided in the wild boar and the wolf, 

 whofe inteftines equal thofe of the hog or the dog, though, like the 

 wild cat, fed by precarious fubfiftence. 



W ild cats were common alio in Peru before its difcovery, though not 

 domeftic. They abound in Africa, and many parts of Afia. Some are 

 of a peculiar colour, inclining to blue. Pietro della Valle informs us, 

 there is a kind of cat, particularly in the province of Chorazan, in Perfia, 

 of the form of the ordinary one, but infinitely more beautiful in the 

 lufire and colour of its fkin, which is grey blue, as foft and fliining as 

 filk ; tail very long, covered with hair lix inches long, which the animal 



throws 



